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Age of Cinematic Universes: Sonic the Hedgehog

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(Originally written for A Place To Hang Your Cape in 2016).

In this era of films, the big fad is the cinematic or shared universe, where multiple films all take place in the same universe/continuity and work as big box office gold. The Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe (sort of) are leading the way, and just about every major film franchise is following their example - Star Wars, Universal Monsters (the pioneers), Transformers, Alien, Jurassic Park, X-Men, Hasbro, Hanna-Barbera, Harry Potter, and Godzilla/King Kong are amongst them. This series of articles suggests what paths other franchises could take if they were adapted into their own cinematic universes.

To kick things off: Sonic the Hedgehog.

The Blue Blur has had quite the expansive franchise, but most of that is often overlooked, underused or even removed by Sega, and he is sadly only seen as a nostalgic character whose glory days ended circa 2001. I’ve seen the best and worst of the very divisive fanbase and the franchise itself, but there has always been the seeds of an interesting story, fully explored in the 1993 “SatAM” animated series and the Archie Comics (which may be facing the end of its 20-year plus run).

A daring, sometimes dark and adult venture existentially a fight between freedom and tyranny. A very American-relatable story. Sonic and his friends form a freedom fighter group against Dr. Robotnik who is essentially the dictatorial ruler of the world, enslaving prisoners and citizens by forcefully roboticizing them into obedient machines. The whole “little animals in the Badniks” from the games becomes something truly terrifying. Like the Borg but without a shared consciousness.

Sadly, the cartoon got cancelled and the comics underwent an unfortunate but reasonable New 52-style reboot, but the basic story still remains. I believe the darker, yet adventurous setting would be a good scenario to place Sonic and co. in, exploring a more thrilling story, set in what is technically a post-apocalyptic future, that could give the MCU a run for its money.

Now for this imaginary pitch, let’s just pretend that Sega would giving complete creative control to yours truly, and there were no limiting copyright issues connected to the comics.

To explain - a former writer of the Archie comics was Ken Penders who established much of the comic’s universe and characters. However, when Sega released Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Penders sued Sega, Archie, and EA Games for infringing on his copyrighted characters (or ripping them off). There was a whole load of lawsuits, and it led to the removal of all of his characters and a complete continuity reboot of the comic, eliminating most of the cast that didn't originate from the video games, or early cartoons. Now let’s pretend that the lawsuits never happened and all of the characters still existed for this universe pitch.

The groundwork of the franchise would be sweet and simple, beginning with a small cast and the battle between Sonic’s Freedom Fighters and Dr. Robotnik’s (or Eggman) empire. Our band of heroes would be the underdogs compared to Eggman’s giant industrial forces, living in the tiny hidden forest village of Knothole and would go on their first major operations against Robotnik in the first movie. The heroes consists of Sonic (portrayed as cocky and virtuous but has to learn about responsibility and his own limits), Sally Acorn (the Daenerys/Leia-esque team leader), Antoine D’Coolette (snooty, insecure rival to Sonic), Bunnie Rabbot (half-roboticized rabbit), Rotor (tech walrus),  and Nicole (Sally’s personal computer). Tails and Amy Rose would be around to be future members.

The other films would expand the universe and mythos of the story, introducing Knuckles the Echidna, the floating island, the Chaos Emeralds and the reach of their own power. There would be a key victory in the second film with Robotnik’s defeat but the rise of new villains previously suppressed while he was in control. Knuckles would get his own spin-off with the Chaotix gang and introduce the rich mythos of the echidnas sadly removed from the comics.

Robotnik would also receive a dark origin story akin in tone to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, exploring his rise from lowly scientist to, well, Robo-Stalin. A key element of the story would be Sonic and Sally’s relationship, a close but turbulent romantic one.

Phase Two would further expand the world, primarily focusing on the mythology of the echidnas, using elements from Sonic Adventure (i.e. the destruction of their empire by the deity Chaos), and the comics, introducing the evil entity called Enerjak, a formless god who possesses corrupt echidnas; one of which would be Knuckles. The chaos would allow Dr. Robotnik to gain a decisive victory against the Freedom Fighters, leading to an unbelievable betrayal that leave our heroes scattered and on their last foundations, the fight back occurring within the first film of Phase Three, or an Infinity Wars-style climax at the end of Phase Two.

The franchise’s box office big gun would be Shadow the Hedgehog. He is an anti-hero after all. His introductory film would be based on Sonic Adventure 02, and perhaps gain a couple more solo films in later phases. Time-travelling Silver the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat would both make appearances in the later movies of Phase Three and have their own solo films too. I would try to incorporate the “Iblis Trigger” story elements from the dreadful Sonic ’06 game, with Sonic, Blaze, and Silver carrying the key roles from the convoluted story.

The third phase would end on a grandiose epic, with Dr. Robotnik whipping out the Death Egg to destroy the world, but Sonic and co. take the fight to him in space. But Sonic is corrupted by the negative energy of artificial Chaos Emeralds, briefly turns evil, falling into a trap that leads to the events of Sonic Unleashed.

Further phases would delve into more comic book-y tropes, incorporating the alternate universes and multiverse of Sonic, more time travel, alien invasions, and then jumping twenty years into the future to introduce a new generation of Freedom Fighters consisting of our heroes’ descendants.

The universe could also delve deeper in Sonic’s lore, taking elements from the British Sonic the Comic. And what if Sonic crossed paths with other characters from other games created by Sega? Sonic has popped up a lot in other games, and even has had two crossovers with Megaman in the Archie Comics, the second expanding to the whole of Sega and Capcom’s entire games catalogue.

At the heart of the story would be the relationships between the core characters, while never abandoning the playful humour and fun from the games. Sonic should remain a way past cool hero but go through some genuine growth (which Sega seems hellbent on preventing), while Dr. Robotnik should be a mix of comical and villainous tyranny. Actually make him intimidating and not a bungling idiot. The cast would obviously grow, with certain films focusing on major or supporting characters, and the antagonists would never just be evil for the sake of being evil.

In 2018, we are supposed to get an actual Sonic the Hedgehog movie but already there are warning alarms since it was announced it would be a live action/CGI film. Will this end up being like Transformers, having a human-led cast with Sonic being a supporting character in his own film? Would it be a one-off? There are rumours that gaming companies are looking to explore making movies, and it would be exciting for Sega to actually give a rat’s ass about seeing justice done to one of their franchises. Just look at what Uwe Boll did to House of the Dead.
Cinematic universes are all the rage nowadays, but what if some recognisable franchises jumped aboard the band wagon, say Sonic the Hedgehog? With 25 years worth of fiction and various canons to explore, the blue blur and friends could thrive in a film franchise, but how to go about it - a series of Sonic's greatest hits, or perhaps a more in-depth new take incorporating elements from the comic books and cartoons? Read on to find out.
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MasterFusion's avatar
This is quite an amazing article.

I agree with most of what you said here, in fact this could be what Sonic needs in order to succeed and become great once again.